This week Baltimore City’s controversial new trash collection schedule came into effect. Instead of getting two weekly pick ups and two bi-monthly recycling days, we now only have one garbage day. Plus, there is also a limit to how much can be picked up each week. Another bad move by Baltimore City?

No, because it also made the change so that we get recycling every single week instead of every other week.

Sure, it may take a few more minutes to sort your waste every day, but it makes total sense to do so. How often do we complain about city taxes? Now, as its tax coffers to pay for services are drying up, the City actually came up with a novel idea to prevent another tax hike.

It only takes a few minutes to toss paper, plastic, and metal waste into another bin. Done. Then the City can sell our trash instead of having to pay a vendor to dump it in a land fill. Not only are we saving money for the City (and essentially all of us tax payers), but we are preventing tons of waste from pilling up in landfills, saving energy and helping the environment. Sounds like a universal application of Jewish values to me.

That’s what makes it so puzzling that some Orthodox Jews in the city were against the new regulations. I understand some of their points: Many have large families, guests over for big Shabbat meals and often host a major dinner on a Jewish holiday. That all leads to more garbage. But there’s also the opportunity to sort through that garbage so that it can be recycled, lessening the need to have more or larger trash pick ups.

We all hate change, we’re all very busy. Still, we make time to study Torah and perform various mitzvot. Taking care of God’s creation also is high up on the lists of commandments. We take time to look at labels to ensure the proper hechsher (kosher certification). It takes the same amount of time to see which bin your trash goes in.

Let’s help our planet, and let’s help Baltimore City taxpayers in one swoop. Recycle. As often as possible.

I recently returned from my annual fundraising expedition.  Each year our group, Jodi’s Climb for Hope travels the globe to raise money for promising breast cancer research. Our mountain climbs often take us to remote, if not less developed countries. The past two years Jodi’s Climb for Hope journeyed to Ecuador and Tanzania.

After fabulous experiences, it’s always nice to return to modern civilization for hot showers and fast internet connections.

This year, we mixed it up a bit and hopped over to Iceland, a fabulously beautiful country where you have amazing diversity from barren lava fields to rich green fields, plentiful sea views and always a mountain in sight.

Instead of going back to the future at the expedition’s end, I actually felt, we were going back in time returning to the United States.

We had good look at a nice chunk of the Kentucky-sized nation, and we loved what we saw regarding their being green, which outpaces America. There were special parking spaces for electric cars that needed to be plugged in, hydrogen filling stations, and plenty of clean diesel cars.

Iceland has the benefit of geo-thermal resources; so much of the country takes advantage of this extremely cheap and energy efficient method to heat most buildings. They also employ simple inexpensive technology in most public spaces that it seems like no-brainers: hallways that have motion sensor lights and toilets with different flushes for #1 and #2.

Once upon a time, the U.S. used to lead the world in technology. We are rapidly falling behind. This hurts us, and slows down our fight again Muslim extremism. Using less oil for driving cars and heating buildings robs terrorists of their funding sources.

The U.S. Senate is taking up a House bill that will help in this area. As with most government sponsored programs, it won’t get us to where we need to be. Yet, it’s a start.  I’m glad our country is finally taking action for the environment and against oil-funded terror. As least some other countries are already showing us the way.